In Greek mythology, Theseus was the king and founder-hero of Athens. There are a variety of different myths involving him, from his conception to his death, but arguably the most famous is that of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur. After his oldest son was killed at the Athenian Games, Minos…

PART ONE: A HISTORY OF MOTION & THE HAUNTED HOUSE “In the psychology of the modern, civilized human being, it is difficult to overstate the significance of the house.” — Anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow In 1907, J. Stuart Blackton produced The Haunted Hotel, a short silent film that combined live…

In Roger Ebert’s review of John Carpenter’s Vampires, he said “When it comes to fighting vampires and performing exorcisms, the Roman Catholic Church has the heavy artillery. Your other religions are good for everyday theological tasks, like steering their members into heaven, but when the undead lunge up out of…

Several years ago, I watched a short video that had gone viral. The footage was taken from the camera of a hotel elevator and in it, a young woman seemed to be running or hiding from someone. Several times, she peered slowly outside of the elevator, as if checking to…

A lot of people know the It’s A Wonderful Life story by now; how it was a box office bomb in the 40s and then, due to a clerical issue, the copyright wasn’t renewed in 1974. The cable networks could pick it up for pennies, showing it over and over…

The airline industry’s new safety protocols are merely a placebo to encourage people to fly again — A morning ritual is a difficult thing to keep up when the world as you know it is falling apart — especially when you work in the airline industry. I woke up this morning in a hotel, which I typically do three mornings out of the week. I did yoga…

I: How did this happen? You must have seen that the wire was barbed F: I was hungry. And there are berries beyond the fence I: But now you’re snared. Your leg is cut down to the bone. You’ve cut your mouth open too, trying to bite through the wire …

Unlearning the impulse to stereotype is a difficult, life-long project. — Recently, when discussing how best to go about helping my teenaged cousin unlearn the prejudices taught to him by his parents, my mother told me “You’re a good example for your sexual persuasion, because you aren’t too in-your-face about it.” This is something I hear from straight people a lot…

When I first heard about gratitude journals, I was newly eighteen and homeless. I don’t know if you’ve ever been homeless, but the experience can put a damper on the whole “let’s talk about what we’re all thankful for” thing. It didn’t help that I’d first heard about it in…